Ohio Watershed Academy 2009

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Getting Your Watershed Group on the Right Track

Introduction

Watershed groups often begin as a small cadre of concerned citizens or agency representatives who recognize the need for a forum to share information and combine resources to more effectively accomplish shared goals. Over time, many of these groups evolve into independent organizations with their own budgets, boards of directors, dues-paying members, paid staff, and volunteers.

As a group evolves into an increasingly sophisticated organization, a number of challenges are likely to arise. At first, group members may come into conflict over what types of activities are appropriate for the group to undertake. "Should we focus on building collaborative relationships or confronting polluters?" Later, if the group is successful at acquiring funding for staff and programs, conflicts may arise over how to spend those funds or how work responsibilities should be divided among staff and volunteers. These challenges are a natural part of organizational development (OD) ­ the process of building and sustaining an organization. For a typical watershed group in Ohio, these (OD) issues may include:

  • Clearly defining group purpose
  • Creating formal structures for distributing responsibilities and authority
  • Recruiting group leaders
  • Managing volunteers
  • Hiring and training staff
  • Raising funds for salaries and programs
  • Prioritizing goals and activities to accomplish those goals
  • Managing finances, grants, and reporting
  • Managing conflict

Few of us become involved in a watershed group out of a passion for organizational development. As a result, groups tend to spend a great deal of time and effort identifying and prioritizing watershed management goals and not enough time identifying and prioritizing organizational goals. Failure to establish organizational goals and strategies for accomplishing those goals can lead to stagnation and frustration on one extreme and burnout and high turnover rates among group leaders on the other. Some examples of organizational goals and watershed management goals are provided for comparison in the following table:

Organizational Development Goals Water Resource Related Goals
Recruit 3 new board members Reduce sediment loads to Eagle Creek by 50%
Board members raise $10,000 for Coordinator salary in 12 months Increase recreational use of Eagle Creek
Develop partnerships with 3 environmental organizations in the watershed Identify and protect high quality wetlands
Increase membership by 50% in three years Increase installation of riparian buffers along 10 miles of stream in the watershed
Form five standing committees with at least five volunteer members each. Increase awareness about the benefits of riparian buffers among watershed residents.

One way to address OD issues directly and comprehensively is through strategic planning. Strategic planning is a process designed to help group members identify and address issues specifically related to building and sustaining their organization. Many organizations avoid strategic planning because they perceive that, by definition, it must involve numerous lengthy meetings, requiring group leaders to put aside all other activities. In reality, while a full-blown strategic planning process is sometimes the best option, watershed groups can also benefit greatly from working through just one or two short strategic planning exercises during a normal business meeting.

The assignments in this module will introduce you to some relatively simple activities that you can do with your watershed group to begin the process of identifying which organizational development issues may be preventing your group from accomplishing its goals or moving to the next level of effectiveness. These simple exercises can be used as a valuable first step for initiating a conversation about building a more effective organization.

In addition to the exercises, we have provided you with some readings and links to additional information about strategic planning for non-profit organizations, below. You can get additional assistance with planning or facilitating strategic planning from a number of organizations, including the OSU Extension Watershed Team or your local Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council.

Learning Objectives

After completion of the module the learner should be able to:

  • Identify common organizational development issues that watershed groups in Ohio typically face.
  • Distinguish organizational goals from watershed protection goals.
  • Describe some basic steps a watershed group can take to address organizational development challenges.

Background Readings

Required:

  • Allison, M. & J. Kaye. (1997) Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. (Appendices C and D) [Academy students receive a photocopy of these pages in their reading packet.]
  • Bonnell, J. & Koontz, T. (2007). Stumbling forward: The organizational challenges of building and sustaining collaborative watershed management. Society and Natural Resources. 20:153-167 [Academy students receive a copy of this article in their reading packet].

Additional Resources


Assignments

Assignment HDC1-1: Distinguishing organizational goals from watershed management goals

Assignment HDC1-2: Assessing organizational strengths and weaknesses

Last modified: Friday, 20 March 2009, 09:17 AM